JD Vance’s Appalachian startup was a sweatshop that outsourced local jobs

[The incomparable Jen Sorensen.)

Who knew that Peter Thiel’s executive floor busboy would be a terrible boss whose promises of fairly treating workers would be a massive lie?

As a venture capitalist, JD Vance repeatedly touted his guiding principles for investing in a company: A business should not only turn a profit, it should also help American communities.

That’s why, he said, he invested in AppHarvest, a startup that promised a high-tech future for farming and for the workers of Eastern Kentucky. Over a four-year span, Vance was an early investor, board member and public pitchman for the indoor-agriculture company.

“It’s not just a good investment opportunity, it’s a great business that’s making a big difference in the world,” Vance proclaimed in a Fox Business interview on the day the company went public in February 2021.

Last year, facing hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, AppHarvest declared bankruptcy.

The rise and fall of the company, and Vance’s role in it, cuts against his image as a champion for the working class — an image that helped catapult him to the top of the Republican ticket as Donald Trump’s running mate.

A CNN review of public documents, and interviews with a dozen former workers, shows that AppHarvest not only failed as a business after pursuing rapid growth, but also provided a grim job experience for many of the working-class Kentuckians Vance has vowed to help.

AppHarvest employees said they were forced to work in grueling conditions inside the company’s greenhouse, where temperatures often soared into the triple digits. Complaints filed with the US Department of Labor and a Kentucky regulator between 2020 and 2023 show that workers alleged they were given insufficient water breaks and weren’t provided adequate safety gear. Some workers said they suffered heat exhaustion or injuries, though state inspectors did not find violations.

Despite promising local jobs, the company eventually began contracting migrant workers from Mexico, Guatemala and other countries, numerous former employees told CNN.

While Vance stepped down from AppHarvest’s board and launched his political career in 2021, he remained an investor and supporter of the company. By the time he was sworn in to office last year, the company he’d hailed as a great opportunity was mired in lawsuits filed by shareholders angry over its plummeting stock price and allegations of fraud.

FURRINERS TAKING OUR JERBS! STEPHEN MILLER WILL BE OUTRAGED!

Vance’s business practices may be inconsistent with his anti-immigration fanaticism, but they’re certainly consistent with his anti-labor fanaticism.